Song of Solomon Chapter 7, Verse 1 reads, "How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman."
Now, I just preached a few weeks ago, if you remember, on Sunday, about the feet, and if you remember that sermon I showed how, throughout the Bible the feet are associated with the gospel. Even when Jesus is washing the disciple's feet, there is some imagery there in the gospel. But one of the things that comes up over and over again with the feet is that the feet are associated with soul winning, because he talks about in Romans Chapter 10, "Behold how beautiful are feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things."
And it's interesting that this concept comes up exactly the same way in Song of Solomon 7:1, it says, "How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!" And of course the Bible tells us that we should be having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The shoes in the Bible represent being prepared to preach the gospel, being prepared to go preach the gospel, and the reason why the feet and the shoes are always associated with preaching the gospel to every creature, and going is because they are not going to come to us.
That’s why this is a soul-winning church, we don’t just say, well, we just have services, and if the lost come in, we'll get them saved. No. We are going to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that God's house may be filled. We are going to go find them.
But the Bible says, "How beautiful are thy feet with shoes," and this is speaking to a woman."
Now if you would go to Acts Chapter 2 in the New Testament, because we know that, beautiful feet in the Bible; whether it's Isaiah 52:7, or whether it's Romans 10, are associated with the soul winner, where the Bible says, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel. And this woman in Song of Solomon Chapter 7, yes, she had beautiful feet physically, but the symbolism of there is that she had beautiful feet in shoes, because she had her feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, representing a woman who is a soul winner.
Now there are a lot of people who think that soul-winning is just for men, they don’t think it's for women. I've been to a lot of churches the men do the soul winning, but there are very few women in the church to do any soul winning. And one thing that’s great about our church is that we, from the beginning, have had a lot of ladies out soul-winning, and that is how it should be in a Bible-believing church. A lot of people get this attitude that says, well, soul winning is just for the men, and it's okay if I as a lady don’t do any soul winning at all.
But look what the Bible says in Acts Chapter 2 Verse 16; it says, "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants, and on my what…
RESPONSE: Handmaidens
Handmaidens; what is the gender of the handmaidens, these are women. It says, "And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy."
Now obviously we know that the Bible teaches that a woman should keep silenced in the church, for it is not permitted onto them to speak," 1 Corinthians 14 tells us, that the Bible tells us, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection." If she will learn anything let her ask her husband at home. It is a shame for women to speak in the church, that’s what 1 Corinthian 14 teaches, that’s what 1 Timothy Chapter 2 teaches, but when it comes to outside of the church it's, of course, every woman's job to preach the gospel to every creature, and the word prophesy means preach.
And you say, ah, well, Deborah the prophetess; that proves that women should be preaching in church. No, it doesn’t, because the prophesying of women takes place outside of the church. First of all they prophesy and preach unto their children, because the Bible talks about it in Proverbs 31,the virtuous woman chapter. The prophesy that his mother taught him in verse 1 of that chapter, so women have a role of preaching the gospel to the unsaved, also they have a role of preaching the gospel to their own children.
They do not have a role of getting behind the pulpit in a New Testament church, and saying anything, because in church the Bible teaches that men are supposed to be the leaders in the church, the pastors should be a man, the deacon should be a man and the people who are doing the speaking and the teaching the church should be men, and that ladies should not be teaching. But out there, and you say, oh, I just want to be a woman preacher so bad, well, show up at soul winning, and you can be a woman preacher, female preacher,
But look! The Bible here is saying, I'll pour out my spirit and your daughters shall prophesy. "I'll pour out my sprit and your daughters shall prophesy. I'll pour out my spirit upon the handmaidens," and he is saying here that that scripture was fulfilled at the Day of Pentecost.
Why? Because in Chapter 1 the Bible says that they were all with one accord in one place, it says the number of names together were about 120, and it says they were there with the women, and including the women it was 120 people.
Well in Chapter 2 it tell us they were one accord in one place, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, they all began to preach the gospel in other tongues or other languages as the spirit gave them utterance. It was not gibberish or falling on the ground, but rather 17 specific languages that are listed in Verses 9 through 11 there. They preached the gospel, they were out giving the gospel to the lost, and the Bible says it was a fulfillment of the prophesy that the daughters would prophesy and that the handmaidens would prophesy.
So this shows women soul-winning at work in the Bible is a great example of it. Go to Philippians, we'll see the same thing in Philippians Chapter 3, so when God tells us, go in to the world and preach the gospel to every creature. When God tell us, go ye therefore and teach all nations, that’s not just saying, I want the men to do that, but do you what, the women can just ignore commands to open their mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
Look what Paul said in Philippians, Chapter 3 … I'm sorry … Philippians Chapter 4, Verse 2, it says, "I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life."
Look! It says that these women labored with him in the gospel. It doesn’t say that they labored with him in the nursery, or by babysitting, or by running a Christian school. No. It says, they labored with me in the gospel, they were there preaching the gospel. And if you remember Aquila and Priscilla, were two that were used by God to speak with Apollos, and expound unto him scriptures and so forth.
Look! It's okay for women to go out and use the Bible, and give the gospel, knock on doors, preach this gospel, knock on doors, preach this gospel to the unsaved. In fact, it's not just okay, it's commanded. Now obviously men and women are different, obviously we know that women are the weaker vessel, men are stronger than women; that’s and undisputed fact. Also we know that our lifestyles are different.
Men and women do not live the same life, for example, men don’t go through this thing of being pregnant, giving birth, nursing a newborn, so obviously there are physical issues that can sometimes prevent women from going out soul winning that don’t really affect men. Obviously, if you just gave birth, the Bible tells you that you need to rest and recover and all that, and obviously there are concerns with the newborn, and there are times when it's hard for women to go out soul winning, but do you know what, women need to make this a priority to get out soul winning when they can.
Because, yes, there are events of life, pregnancies, or illnesses, or even men could be affected by ailments, illnesses injuries, but do you know what, if it's a priority though you'll get it done, because honestly I understand taking breaks, being laid up to have children, and you see in this church women have children every couple of years. In a lot churches it's like a one-time deal, or a two-time deal. My wife has had 7 children, and so obviously this is something that just kind of keeps happening over and over again, it's a recurring pattern.
But do you what though, my wife needs to be out soul winning, and she does go soul winning, and I believe that ladies, when they get … and when I say there's differences between men and women, ladies might not go out and do the long hours that men do, also, just because of their more delicate nature. I understand that. Some women do go out there and do the long haul, and that’s even better, that’s great.
But do you know what, I'm not saying be like the men, or I'm not saying, you need to be out there even you are nine months' pregnant, and it's 115, and you are not … it's 115-degrees outside, and you are nine months' pregnant, get out there and go soul winning for three hours. That’s not what I'm saying, but do you know what, when you are not nine months' pregnant, and when it's not 115 out, you can go out soul winning for an hour or two hours, or whatever you can do, 45 minutes, a half hour, if you are not in the phase where you have your full strength, after having a child.
I'm just saying, you know what, it's between you and God, but don't just have this excuse; oh, that’s for the men. I'm not going to tell any man in this church how much to go soul winning, I'm not going to tell any woman in this church how much to go soul winning, but don’t make an excuse that says' soul winning is for men, because that is not a biblical doctrine. And many great soul winners have been ladies and they are great lady soul winners in our church that get a lot of people saved.
But do you know what, you ladies should look to them as a role model and learn from them, and go soul-winning with them, and honestly, I just strongly believe in ladies being out soul winning as well as men. Are there differences physically, sure. Are there differences in lifestyle, absolutely, but don’t just write it off and say I don’t need to do it. No, get out there do it.
And do you know what the great thing is? It's not like you are going to be the only lady that’s going. Friday night is time when the ladies go, but there are ladies at other soul winning times too. We had a lady out soul winning on Wednesday soul winning. Most of the soul-winning times have at least one or two ladies, so there are plenty of partners to choose from if the times don’t work for you, find a lady that lives near you, get out and do soul winning.
Be safe about it. Obviously, we are not saying, do you know what, you need to go to the worst ghetto, and you need to go soul winning there at night. Obviously, we men can maybe handle the worst ghettos, or most of our soul-winning times there are men and women going so, the men can be right across the street, in case they need … in case somebody starts swinging, and somebody needs to protect. Not that that almost ever happens. I mean it's so rare that there's ever any danger involved, but do you know what, obviously we need to be safe and think about those things.
And so many ladies in our church are carrying guns concealed anyway that is why it's not even an issue, right? There are more ladies in this church carrying concealed weapons, than men in most churches. Honestly, it takes like two just to count all the ladies in our church that carry a weapon, so they are probably fine. They’ll probably protect us on soul winning. Do you know what I mean?
Anyway, I just wanted to cover that because it's important, and it needs to be said, because I don’t want you to just tune out when you hear preaching on soul winning. Do you know what ladies, you might way, well my situation prohibits me from getting out door-to-door. I can't get there, I can't get to that. Do you know what, ladies have a lot of other soul-winning opportunities that aren’t just door-to-door.
Just like we, as men, have other opportunities where we are at work, and we can give a coworker, I've had a lot of coworkers saved, and it's great because then you disciple them, and you see them every day, and you can keep talking to them, but do you know what, ladies, a lot of times you have opportunities to give the gospel when the milkman shows up. Yes, we have a milkman that comes to our house, I know you don’t. I know that 99 percent don’t, we are not living in the '50s. But believe it or not we have a … but the water delivery guy that brings the bottle of water, the milkman, people that show up for whatever reasons. Homeschooling groups, PE groups, science class groups, whatever the homeschooling group.
You say, I'm not going to do that. Well, whenever you come into contact with people, whether it's your neighbors, whether you are … whatever. There are going to be times when you talk to people that aren’t saved, and do you know what, if I weren’t going out door-to-door, I would dead sure, really be on the alert of those types of opportunities so that I could be a soul winner.
Now I think going door-to-door is the best way to get people saved, we are going to get the most people saved that way, that’s what I believe. But it's great to supplement that with other soul-winning opportunities as they come, and especially if you are someone who can't get out door-to-door a lot, or a lady that isn't really in that stage, do you know what, there are opportunities that all of us pass up, you need to tune in and pay attention to those and be alert about those.
" How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!" I'm sure it's great, the pedicure or whatever women do to their feet to try to make them look good, but if you want to have beautiful feet in God's eyes, it's because you are a soul winning. I believe that this passage has that as an underlying meaning. Now what's interesting too is if you finish the Verse in Song of Solomon 7:1, it says, " The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman."
So, he's talking about how beautiful her feet are and how beautiful her legs are, and he says that they are work at the hands of a cunning workman. Do you know what's interesting whenever the Bible talks about soul winning he says, he'll make you a soul winner. Like a cunning workman that will …" you say, well, that’s just not me. Well, if you follow Him, He'll make you a fisher of men.
Not only that, but Jeremiah tell us the parable of the potter, and that God is the potter, and that we are the clay, and that he will form us and fashion us into the image of his son. Look! If he's forming to fashion you into the image of his son, he's making you a soul winner because that’s what he was. He came to seek and save that which was lost.
Again, we see another parallel here, with the beautiful feet, that they are made by a cunning workman, by a God who will form and fashion us in his image. The other thing we see from this, when he says, "The work of the hands of a cunning workman." Then he goes to describe other parts of her body. "Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies. Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins."
Go to Psalm 139, because the Bible here saying that her feet and her and her legs are so beautiful and that they are the … they are the work of the hands of a cunning workman, and in fact, that is quite literally true. That’s not even just a metaphor, that’s not even just symbolic, they are really are the work of the hands of cunning workman.
Look at what the Bible says in Psalm 139, Verse 13, this is David speaking, "For thou hast possessed my reins; thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Not just a genetic accident, not just DNA combining and just randomly, certain genetic traits are coming out, and it's all just a science equation, that’s not what the Bible teaches, the bible teaches that he was fearfully and wonderfully made. "Marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect."
He's talking about the matter or the substance that he's made of. Even basically the nutrients or the elements in the earth that went into the food, that went into his mother, that basically, eventually became he's basically saying, God was there for every part of that process. God is all-knowing, He can count the sand by the seashore; He calls all the stars of heaven by name, even though to us they are enumerable. He knows the hairs of our head, the hairs of our head are numbered. And so He actually is part of this process of forming and fashioning mankind.
From the food going into your mother's mouth, as it was processed and metabolized and the body used that food as building blocks to form and fashion the child in the womb, it says that he was curiously wrought, it says in Verse 16, "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;" unperfect in the Bible means incomplete. So he says, "He saw my substance, yet being unperfect;" or incomplete, "and in thy book all my members were written," members mean body parts, "Which in continuance were fashioned."
Meaning that God did not start a genetic ball rolling, or just start a ball rolling with the seed hitting the egg, and he just kind of got it going and just took his hands up, and let nature run its course. No. It says, that the body parts were in continuance fashion, meaning that God continued to form and fashion throughout the nine months pregnancy. He fashioned each body part in continuance, and then is says, "That all his members were written, the substance being yet unperfect," It says they were in continuance to fashion, when as yet there was none of them.
Meaning that when certain body parts didn’t even exist yet, because if we were to look at a picture of the blastocyst, which later becomes the fetus, these different terms that scientifically used for the stages of the development of that living child. In the real early stages it's what the world call a blob, it starts out round, it's start out as a blastocyst, and they would just look at that and say, oh, it's just a blog, but God says, even when the members or the body parts weren’t there, even when there weren’t fingers he is still fashioning. Even when there wasn’t a beating heart, he's still fashioning it.
Then you start to see the head kind of take shape, as you look at progression of this, and you start to see the hands, and then slowly the fingers become distinct. And different body parts are being added. It doesn’t just start with all the body parts and just grow, it starts out a round thing, the blastocyst. And it's funny, because even in the Book of Job he talks about being fashioned in the womb round. So it starts out just round, microscopic. But then the different members are fashioned in continuance.
So, look! Life begins at conception, and the Bible teaches, it says that women conceive seed, meaning that conception takes place when the seed is present, when the seed touches the egg, not like modern dictionaries that are starting to change the definition of conception to implantation, which takes place 7 to 14 days, after fertilization.
Now, biblical definition for conception is fertilization because it talks about conceiving seed. Unless you are reading the NIV it completely takes that out, but if you are reading the King James Bible, they conceive seed. And therefore life begins at conception, fertilization, when that seed hits that egg, even though it's just a round single cell or double cell or quadruple cells it multiplies, it's alive, it's a human being that is being formed and fashioned by God.
RESPONSE: Amen.
God makes us in the womb. He didn’t just make Adam and Eve and then they procreated, he makes all of us, he made me, he made you in the womb, he formed and fashioned us to the way he wanted us to be. He said, well if that’s true then everybody would come out perfect. Everybody would come out, looking fantastic and being completely healthy. Okay. What about the man who was born blind in John Chapter 9 and 10 that story is found; and that man who was born blind it says he was not born that as a result of anyone's sin, but it says he was blind for the glory of God.
So God might have a reason why he allows one to be born with Down Syndrome, or one to be born blind, one to be born deaf, and many in the world would say, abort it, and they have all these tests now where you can test the child in the womb to make sure there's going to be nothing wrong with it, because if there's going to be wrong with it, let's just end the pregnancy right now.
Do you know what, I don’t even think that you should even take those tests, because if you find out there's something wrong? Are you actually going to just abort it anyway, if it has something wrong? No. You say, well, there are these other reasons to get that. Whatever, I don’t believe in doctors 90 something percent of the time anyway.
But any they are a bunch of quacks in my mind; and I'm not saying they all are, because there are good doctors out there, but do you know what, a lot of modern medicine is quackery and for one reason, for one reason.
RESPONSE: Two.
Well, okay two reasons, because you guys are so right, you are even more right than what I was going to say. Yes, the love of money, the root of all evil, the pharmaceutical industry, yes.
But the reason I was going to say it's because they go to school and are taught that there's no God, because every single doctor went to medical school, and pretty much every medical school is part of the godless public school system, or a part of a private school system that’s based off of the godless system, and they evolution, they teach the big bang, they teach that we are all animals. So basically they are going into it with just a completely wrong foundation, that God did not create the body.
Therefore the body can't heal itself, the body has all these mistakes in it that we need to fix, and they don’t really let nature take its course. They don’t take a naturalistic approach, because they believe it's all random, and that they need to step in, they are smarter than God, they need to step in and fix things that aren’t ever broken.
They want to fix problems that weren’t even there in the first place. So, therefore, I'm skeptical of a lot of doctors and medicine for that reason. I would go to the doctor if I needed it, if I'm in that bad of a situation, if I'm healthy I just don’t go to the doctor. The need to behold me not a physician.
So what I'm saying is, that these tests are out there and doctors are out there, and they’ll guarantee you, this child will not survive, this child isn't going to see the light of day, let's just go ahead and just terminate this now, let's just go ahead and do the D&C now. But let me tell you something, I've heard people say, oh, this pregnancy is not viable, this is never going to come, and then the baby is fine. Oh, this baby is going to die anyway, and for your safety we just need to just clean it out, because this could hurt you.
Do you know what, take it with a grain of salt, get a 25th opinion before you … because honestly it's been so many times that they’ve been wrong about these things, and you just trust that and just abort it. But even so, do you know what, if I had a child that has Down Syndrome, I'll praise God for it, I'll thank God for it.
I'm not going to say, oh man, I wish this child would have never been born, I wish it would have been a miscarriage. God can use a person with Down Syndrome for his glory. First of all people with Down Syndrome can be saved, because they are at a lower level of comprehension, they are mentality of a young child. They are basically just a perennial child. If you talk to people that are adults with Down Syndrome, they basically act just like a little child, because they are developmentally disabled, they have a slow maturity, so they might be 20 years old physically, but they are 7 years old in their mind, and in their mentality.
But do you know what, a 7-year-old can be saved. So I've know people that had Down Syndrome that were saved, and I've even known someone who had Down Syndrome that was a soul winner. And by the way, my grandpa got a saved as a result of a 5-year-old boy giving him the gospel. My grandpa got … Who knows if my whole family on that side would even be saved, if my dad would have been saved, or if his dad would have been saved.
It's more for a 5-year-old boy, because my grandpa and grandma, had moved into a new neighborhood, a new area, and they hadn’t found a church, and they had a list of churches that they were going to try, and Faith Baptist in Canoga Park was not on the list. They were checking some different churches, and this 5-year-old boy, came down the street, and gave the plan of salvation to my grandpa, quoted him the Romans Road, and he didn’t get saved right then and there with the 5-year-old boy, but he was so blown away by it, he was so impressed by that he said, I've got to … let's try this church.
He went and visited the church a couple days after he visited the pastor, and a deacon came to my grandpa's house, gave him the gospel, got him saved. So there is a 5-year-old boy used by God, go get my grandpa saved. Do you know what, God could use people with Down Syndrome to plant a seed like that, to give the gospel, maybe even to win somebody to Christ all the way. With God all things all things are possible, and God has chosen the foolish things of this world to find the wise, because his strength is made perfect in weakness.
Who are we to sit there and say, oh, we don’t want blind people to exist, we don’t want deaf people to exist, we don’t want, Down Syndrome people, we don’t want the handicap, we don’t want the lame. Look! God loves everybody that’s born into this world whether they are handicapped or whatever, and they all have a shot at being saved, and they all can be used by go. Praise be unto God.
By the way, I know another person whose child had Down Syndrome and that’s why the parent got saved. Because before they had no interest in the things of God, no interest in church, they had a child with Down Syndrome, and it basically made them reevaluate their whole life. Because they had lived kind of a life that was based on them. Now all of a sudden they are looking at things in a different and it caused them … just that event just caused them to seek after God, and just to want to know more about God and the Bible, and they ended up getting saved.
You don’t know what God's doing, and so don't tamper with what God does in the womb. God opens the womb, God closes the womb, I'm not going to tamper with it. And especially once a child has been conceived don’t tamper with it. There are things that people do, to end the pregnancy even without going out and getting an abortion, people have literally tried to eat things and drink things that they know could cause them to miss-carry the child.
That is wicked, that’s ungodly, and do you know what, if you are doing it on purpose, it's murder. Abortion is murder, the doctor is a murderer the nurse is a murderer, and the woman who goes in and says abort my child is a murderer. Quit sugar-coating it, call it what it is, it's a human being, you are a murderer if you’ve had an abortion. You say, do you hate me? No. But repent and get right with God, and admit it and confess it as a sin, and quit trying to downplay it. Well, it's not as bad as if I would have taken a gun and shot somebody, you're right, it's worse, because you are killing someone who is more innocent. How can you downplay that.
But anyway it says, "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!" Verse 18, "If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with thee." So God loves and cares about the individual, doesn’t he? And He takes the time to fashion us.
Now, look! When we go to Song of Solomon Chapter 7, it talks about our body is the work of the hands of a cunning workman. Now you might feel that there's something about your appearance that you don’t like, for example, you might be taller than you'd like to be, or shorter than you'd like to be, or whatever imperfections you have about your body or your appearance.
But do you know what? If that’s how God made you, who is to say what is beautiful, and what is not. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You might look at some great soul winner's feet say, his feet aren’t that beautiful, and I'm not going to take off my shoes and show you my feet, and I'm not saying I'm the greatest soul winner, but I am a soul winner, and I could take off my shoes, and I could you a really messed up toenail that fell off.
Who has ever had your toenail just completely; your big toe nail just completely off. Well, it happens, and I had one of my toenails just completely fall off. But do you know what, they always come back, and the human body is an amazing thing. There are people who have lost so many times, I was once responsible for somebody losing a toenail. And their wife said, oh, it's not going to come back. I said, it's going to come back, just chill out, your husband's foot is going to look normal again, someday, just get over it.
Of course it grew back, but when it first comes back it looks a little gnarly, and then after it comes all the way back, then it looks great. But do you know what, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Everybody has got imperfections. Pastor Anderson had a toenail that fell off, that didn’t look good. Everybody else has issues with their appearance, whether it's their face, whether it's their body, whether it's their hair or lack of hair, or whatever it is, that they feel like they don't like about the way they look, but do you know what, we need to get a biblical view of our appearance and the appearance of others, let's get a biblical view.
And a biblical view says that, do you know what, God made me the way that I am, I'm going to be content with the say I am. God made me with brown hair, God made me 5'11", God made me built a certain way, I mean praise God for it, this is who I am, and I'm this way for a reason. I knew a guy who was very short, and he was short his whole life, and he hated being short, but do you know he met his wife and she was really short. He said, do you know what, maybe this is why I was short, because God ordained, or planned, that maybe we wouldn’t have hit it off if I weren’t also her same height. You never know.
Do you know what, honestly, I'm 5'11" right now, but when I was growing up I was always the shortest kid in the class, always. And I hated being short, and I was made fun of and called shrimp, and other things, for being short, for being small, and I hated it, but do you know what, I think God now, that I was short. Eventually I became normal White man height, but do you know what I'm thankful for being short, because I'm sure that it taught me a lot of things about humility, it taught me what I … because it's good … Being made fun of, being ostracized or teased, at least it makes you feel like, well, I'm not going to treat other people that way, because I don’t like being treated that way.
Here is the thing, what if God would have just created me, just a great-looking guy, and the perfect height, and athletic and good-looking and a great personality, do you know what, I might been so prideful and arrogant, just because of how everything is going my way all the time. I get all lifted up in spirit, and I might have married the wrong person, and gone into the wrong career, and just gone into a life of sin, and just gratified myself. You don’t why God made you the way that He did, but I promise you, God made you the way that He did.
I guarantee you, no matter what, and you say, I don't like, but do you know what, maybe your spouse would have never even married you if you were made differently, if you didn’t have the imperfections that you have. You don’t know what God is doing, just trust the Lord. Get a biblical view of your appearance and say, God made me. Quit altering your appearance, dying your hair, and just tattooing and piercing it. Do you know what I mean? Just trying to make yourself look different.
Just caking on a bunch of makeup so that you can just look totally different. Do you know how I like my wife, with no makeup, that’s the way that God made her, that’s the way I like. In fact, that’s not just the way I like her, that’s the way that I demand her to be. When we first got married and I'm not … Look! I'm not preaching against you if you wear makeup, you do what you want in your house, but in my house, that’s the rule that I have in my house, and I can make whatever rule in my house that I want.
So I'm not saying it's a sin to wear makeup, because I'm not saying that the Bible specifically commands you not to wear makeup, but my wife doesn’t wear makeup because I don’t allow my wife to wear makeup. I would never allow my daughters to wear makeup as long as they are in my house. Jezebel painted her face. Anyway, I'm saying one time … we got married, and one time my wife put on makeup, and I just … I looked at my wife and just said, you are never going to wear makeup again, and then I walked in the bathroom, and just took all the makeup and just threw it in the thrash, and just said, you don’t wear makeup. She's, like okay. She didn’t really wear it that much in the first place, it was just something that she wore every once in a while, but I just said, no. You don’t need makeup.
And by the way, makeup is filled with … usually filled with harmful chemicals, oh, my complexion is bad, yes, that’s because you wear makeup, because honestly, you are putting all these chemicals and preservatives, and do you know what, because careful because some makeup, and I know sound … I'm going to sound like a lunatic when I say this, but do you know what, it's true, so I'm going to tell the truth. There are literally, and I'm not saying all makeup, but do the research, there is a lot of makeup out there that is made with human foreskins in the makeup and aborted fetuses in the makeup.
You can just say, oh, you are a psycho, you are crazy. Look it up, huge amounts of makeup, and I'm not saying that one time a batch from China contained this, I'm saying there is an industry that takes human foreskins from circumcised babies and uses them to make foundation. Okay. Look it up, it's true. And do you know what, just be thankful that your pastor is willing to sound like a lunatic to tell you the truth.
You need to be careful what you are putting on your face, and a lot of it is unhealthy and a lot of it is giving you a worse complexion because you are putting all these chemicals and clogging up your pores, and putting all this junk on your face, and painting your face. I talk to most men and they agree, I like my wife without makeup.
RESPONSE: Amen.
Only one amen on that? Let me say it again, I talk to most men, most men, okay, and they say, I like my wife without makeup.
GROUP RESPONSE: Amen
All right that’s better. I'm just kidding, but honestly, and I'm sure there are men out there that like their wife better with makeup, but the vast majority of men that I talk about they are like, yeah, I know I don’t want why my wife to wear makeup. So, honestly, ladies, I think that women wear make more because of other women, than they do because of their husband.
It's more like to fit in with other people, this is just my opinion. I'm just telling you that I like the way that my wife looks the way that God made here, the way that she gets out of bed in the morning. And by the way, I'm the one who looks at my wife. She doesn’t stare at herself in the mirror all day, so she's going to look the way that I want her to look.
You say, well you don't have the right to tell your wife to tell your wife what she's to do. I have the right to tell my wife to do whatever I want. It's called being a man, it's called being the husband, it's called, let the wives be in subjection under their husband in all things. So, if the husband says, I don’t like the way that you look in makeup, or I just don’t like makeup, general, because I think makeup is stupid and unhealthy, or I just think that you look great the way that God made you. Imagine that! The way that God made you.
Look! You don’t see men wearing makeup. Do we all just look awful? Do we all just look like monsters or something? I know we don’t look as good as the women, but come on, do we look that bad. Come on just keep it real, is my opinion. Anyway I love the way that my wife looks because I like what God made, and a lot of this thing, oh, let's change the way we look, no, be content with how you look, accept who God made you.
Also get a biblical view of the appearance of others, not thinking that everyone has to fit a Hollywood mold of; this is what everybody has to look like and dress like and be like. No. No. No. Just realize, God made us all, He made us different, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and what is beautiful to one might not be beautiful to another, and vice versa.
Let's keep reading because this comes out in the passage. It says, "Thy navel is like a round goblet." Now, there are two kinds of navels in this world, what are they called, an innie and an outie. Now does this woman have an innie or and outie? If your navel is like a goblet, right, and it says, "It's like a goblet which wanteth not liquor." Not liquor, when we use the word liquor, we mean booze, we mean alcohol, but actually the word liquor at that time it just means liquid, it just means any drink would be a liquor.
You can look that up in the dictionary and see that that’s what it means, but it says, "Her navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor." So if your navel is at the point where you could pour liquid into it, that’s not an outie, that’s an innie belly button, okay.
Anyway you say, are you going to make a whole doctrine out of that? Well let's keep reading, because in the next phrase of the verse it says, "Thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies." Now here is the thing, if you were complimenting a woman today, and you say, I just love your belly, it's like a heap of wheat. This might not be seen as a compliment to a lot of people, because today, there is kind of an unrealistic expectation of the way women are supposed to look, because basically the look that today is seen as beautiful or attractive amongst women, it's basically for a woman's stomach to be completely flat. No belly, no heap of wheat, no round goblet full of liquor. Okay.
Just a completely flat stomach, right? Even today you'll see advertisements and things with women, with a six pack, like washboard abs. You'll see women, abs of steel, and it's like a washboard, flat stomach, flat abs. Guess what? When women are pregnant that’s definitely not what their stomach looks like. But even when ladies are not pregnant they might not necessarily have that flat washboard look.
But look! In the next verse it says, "Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins." Later on he says, in Verse 8, halfway through the verse, it says, "Now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples." So he's describing this woman, and he says that her belly is like a heap of wheat, her two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, and they are like clusters of grape, you can't have it both ways guys. But today basically the view that the world puts out, is that basically that there's going to be substantial breasts, and a flat stomach.
Well, let me explain something to you. Do you know what? And I'm not trying to be graphic, I'm preaching the Bible. I'm not just, well Pastor Anderson how dare you talk about breasts, the Bible this is what the Bible, what am I supposed to preach on Song of Solomon Chapter 7? This is what the Bible is saying, I'm preaching the Bible. And honestly do you want to know a huge major component of what real breasts are made out of, it starts with an F and it ends with a T.
RESPONSE: Fat.
Fat, anybody can tell you that breasts are predominantly made of fat. This is why women have a higher percentage body fat than men. Part of it is because their breasts are very high in fat. So let me just explain something to you, if a woman loses weight, they get smaller, if a woman gains weight, they get larger. And here is the thing, you say, no, no, pastor. I see all these really thin, really slender, flat-stomached women, and they have these great, big breasts, let me explain something to you, they are fake, they are not real. I'm not even kidding. It's not real, it's fake.
Look! The statistics are that there's like, some huge number, does anybody the percentage of women that go out and become altered in that way. Does anybody know? Where is my wife, she'll know? (Zsuzsa 00:42:56), what percentage of women, do you know? You are just embarrassed to tell me. I'm just going to make something up the, 25 percent, no I'm just kidding, just kidding. Anyway, I don’t know that I know that it's millions and millions, my wife, listen to this, my wife had … she brought home a home-school magazine, and I think it was a free publication that just tells you all the family events in the Valley, where you can take your kids to educational opportunities, and there was a magazine geared toward parenting and homeschooling.
I picked up the magazine, and every other page was like plastic surgery ad. Then I was in California and I was waiting in a waiting room for some kind of a form that I needed to get notarized, or whatever, and I'm looking through a magazine and it was a thing geared toward moms, and it like plastic surgery, plastic surgery, plastic surgery, plastic surgery.
Look! It's just not going to happen, guys, this really slender, you are going to have to choose what's important to you guys, and look not everybody likes the same look, and that’s why there is a lid for every pot. God created all men differently, he created all ladies differently; and do you know what, some men are attracted to a very thin woman. Other men would like a more endowed woman. But look! God made us all different. Don’t get this warped view of, I want to find this woman that just … she just has flat stomach, abs of steel, really slender, she runs 10 miles every morning.
Guys! Her chest isn't going to be there. It's going to be gone, if you are willing to sacrifice that, then go for it. Do you know what? There are guys that they like a thin woman, and I'm down on you if you are thin, just like, I'm down on you if you are larger. Look, I'm only married to one woman, and that’s the only woman whose body I'm interested in, and do you know what, I love the way my wife looks, and I couldn’t be happier with the way she looks.
But do you know what, there are people out there, that look at their wife and they are not happy with the way that their wife looks. And that’s sad. And a lot of it is just through social engineering. It's not even that their wife isn't attractive, it's not even that their wife has something wrong with her, isn't beautiful. It's just, they’ve been socially engineering to be looking for something that they saw on TV that’s fake, that’s not real, or something that they saw out in public, that’s fake, that’s not real.
Do you know what? Women who have been altered and had their breast implants or whatever, they are not even able to nurse children anymore. Did you know that? They can't even use the breast for what they are even created for, because they’ve been tampered with in that way, that’s my understanding of it. Again, I'm not an expert on this.
I got an email from somebody saying, I'm thinking about quitting, I literally got this email, I get a lot of emails, but I got an email from somebody who said, I go to Independent Fundamental Baptist, King James only, soul-winning church, and I'm thinking about quitting the church because my pastors wife just got these implants.
I'm like; good and I don't blame you. I'm just being honest, I would quit that church. I would find somewhere else to go to church. We look in a weird society, and do you see how it even affects God's people, when eve the pastor is allowing his, or maybe even encouraging his wife. Or at the very least, he's allowing her to go out and do this mutilation, this augmentation, or whatever, just be happy with who you are, and do you know what, love your wife, and love your wife's appearance, and understand, do you know what, if your wife is thin, understand that, hey, a lot of mean think that thin women are very beautiful, and that’s, in fact what our society promotes the most, is a really thin look.
If your wife is more full-figured, do you know what, just praise God, and just say, hey, there are pros and cons to everything. We need to get past … You say, I don’t think you should preach on something like that. Well, do you know what, I don’t think our society should brainwash everybody to have an eating disorder, and expect women to be like men, and have six pack abs, I don’t want my wife to be strong.
I like the fact my wife is very strong, because she is actually very strong, but I don’t want her to become this bodybuilder. Do you know what I mean? I'm glad that she's strong, be she carried the kids around all day and doesn’t … she works really hard and so she's pretty strong, and she has great endurance. But let me say this though, I like her the way she is, I don’t want her to get all buffed or something, and I don't want her to have six pack abs.
If I want to look at six pack abs I'll go look in the mirror. Some of you will get that later. Anyway, I don't want to look at that on my wife, I'd rather look at navel that’s navel that’s a goblet. Do you know what I mean? But anyway, let's not go too far into that. But this is great, this is great teaching of the Bible.
Do you know what we are doing, we are taking what the Bible actually says, and expounding it and applying it to the day that we live in, and I think this is profitable.
But let's keep reading, "Thy neck is as a tower of ivory," probably not a compliment in 2013 necessarily, but do you know what, like I said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, some people might like that look. "Thine eyes like the fish pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon…" You say, oh, man, my nose is, I wish I had a smaller nose, I wish my nose looked like Michael Jackson's after 10 surgeries. If your nose is like a tower Solomon thought that was the coolest thing, that’s what he's praising right here.
It says, "…which looketh toward Damascus. Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries. How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! This thy stature is like to a palm tree." Just referring to the fact that she's tall, because palm trees are very tall, "Thy breasts to clusters of grapes. I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples."
Smell your wives' nose and see what it smells like, anyway, "And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
Now I've got to hurry, I'm almost out of time, but I want to talk about a few more things in these last verses, because there are some great teachings in these last verses. It says in Verse 10, "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me."
I've already covered this in previous weeks, but that possessive mentality of a woman seeing herself as belonging to her husband that’s going to cause him to have more desire toward you when he feels possessive of you, and the wife should feel possessive of her husband, that’s why it said, I am my beloved's, he is mine, I'm his, it goes both ways throughout this book.
But look at Verse 11, it says, "Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards." Now, you say, what's the point of that? Well, this is showing kind of like a getaway for the husband and wife, they are going out in the fields, they are going out in the fields, they are going to go to a village. That’s like going to a different town and spending the night. Because, hey, let's lodge in village; hey, let's go out in the field. Hey, let's get up early and to the vineyards.
So we see that the husband and wife are spending some quality time together, but what's interesting about this is that, if you study the Book of Song of Solomon, all the seven chapters we've seen so far, and especially these verses here, we see that a lot of their special time together is outdoors, that they are going out in the field. They are going into the garden in Chapter 6. It talks a lot about them eating fruit, and today when we think about husband and wife, going on a date together, or spending time together, what do we think of? Going out to dinner, go out to dinner, go out dinner.
And do you know what the problem with that is, number one, when you go out to dinner usually the food you are eating is not as healthy as what you would eat at home. Because let me tell you something, restaurants cost the same now as they did when I was a kid. Do you know what's gone down, the quality, seriously. You go do restaurants that used to be pretty good, and you are like, ugh, gross, because the quality is gone down.
Most, unless at like at an organic restaurant, just a high-end restaurant, which can be expensive, right, most restaurant you go to, and you might even say, no, no, it's a fancy restaurant; even fancy restaurant though, a lot of them are using a lot of GMOs, and just a lot of low quality ingredients. And they are really polishing the apple, but it's a conventionally-grown apple, all right, that’s got pesticide residue.
What I'm saying is that going out to dinner is not the healthiest option, number one; and number two it's expensive. And you may not be able to afford it, and then you think, like, oh, man, my husband can't take me out to dinner, oh, we can't go out to dinner, and then wives can become disgruntled, and then husbands can become irritated like, oh, man, I'm trying to build a relationship with my wife, trying to have some quality time with my wife, and it's costing me a fortune.
Now I'm not saying that going out to dinner is bad, we go out to dinner, but we go out to dinner rarely. You say, oh, you don’t spend time with your wife. News flash! There are ways to spend time with your wife that don’t involve going out to dinner. And people just think that the only way to have fun is to go out to eat, spend a bunch of money, you’ve got to pay the tip, you’ve got to pay for the meals, you’ve got to pay for the drink, and your wife is always going to order dessert, so you’ve got to pay for that, and she orders dessert and then just put it in a box and not even eat it, and take it home.
But the thing is … I just had to get that off my chest. But what I'm saying is, there are other ways to have fun without just going out to dinner, and spending a bunch of money. Do you know what you could do, you could have a picnic. And it's probably even more fun, and you live in Arizona, half the year, it's great weather, it's dry, it's sunny, it's cool, you can go out. And we are just getting into that season, the paradise, we are coming out of an inferno, and going into Paradiso right.
What I'm saying that you should think about the fact, okay, I'm poor let's not waste my money out to dinner that I don't even have anyway in the first place, going to some junky restaurant, where we could make better food. One of the things that my wife and I do, and do you know what, you say, oh, but some of the food you take picnicking is expensive. It's still way cheaper than going out to dinner, I don’t care what you are bringing, no matter what you bring.
But one of the things that we like to bring is we get these little fresh mozzarella balls. Who knows what I'm talking about? We get fresh mozzarella balls in oil, in olive oil, cherry tomatoes in oil, right. We'll just put like a little Tupperware like cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls, in olive oil, and then just like a baguette, sliced up.
Then we just have a picnic like that, where we just a piece of white, like baguette bread, and you can put oil and basil, you’ve got to basil on it, I don’t know how to make it, my wife makes it, but I'm sure there's salt, pepper and basil involved, and whatever Italian seasoning. You could make something like that and bring grapes on the side.
And look! In Song of Solomon they are eating a lot of fruit, they are eating a lot healthy stuff, they are eating a lot of healthy stuff. They are not just going out, I'm going to just get a burger and fries every single Friday night, or every single night, burger and fries, burger and fries.
They are basically having fruit, they are having fresh fruits and vegetables and things, and I'm all for eating meat and eating bread and all those things, you can have a picnic, you can have the mozzarella, and the tomatoes and the bread, and it's more romantic and everybody is happier and it costs less, and you get the fresh air and the birds and everything.
I'm just saying you need to think outside the box, go on a little hike with your wife, go out into the field, go to the villages, go into the vineyard, take a walk, I mean take a walk, you could probably have just as much enjoyment with your wife, going out to dinner, instead of going out there, just take a walk, just take a walk through the neighborhood, take a walk through the park, go to Kiwanis Park, there's that little lake there, and there's paddle boats, and you can have a picnic.
I'm just saying, be a little more creative than, okay, let's go to the Outback again, let's go to Chili's again. Do you know what I mean? Just get outside that box. My parents used to go to Chili's every Friday night, they are divorced now. Anyway I'm just saying, think outside the box. It's really not funny.
Anyway, think outside the box. You can have fun without having to go out to eat every single time, there's other way. And by the way, there's a lot in these passages about flowers and fruit and these are the things that are romantic.
In Chapter 6, he's gathering lilies to give to his wife. Giving her flowers, giving her fruit, that’s another thing, gather the flowers, and you don’t have to pay for them either. Anyway, what I'm saying is, you can have a good time with your wife, just by going up early to the vineyards; Verse 12, "Let's see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves."
So look, this is a romantic outing, just checking out the plant life, just going into the vineyard, going into the gardens. "The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved."
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for this chapter and thank you for the very practical things that we can learn from it. So often when we read the Bible we just miss what's right there on the surface. Eat fruit, go out in the field. Have a picnic. Walk through the vineyard, go hiking, whatever. Compliment your wife's appearance, different body types that he lists there, that’s what he found attractive.
Help us to learn these truths and apply them. Help us to just renew our minds, get out of this worldly simple mindset and get a biblical view of all things, and then help us to also follow the spiritual application that we found in Verse 1 of being a soul winner whether we be man or woman. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
